At the beginning of this year, Ibrāhīm b. Walīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik assumed the caliphate upon the bequest of his brother Yazīd al-Nāqiṣ, and the commanders pledged allegiance to his caliphate. All the people of Damascus also pledged allegiance, except for the people of Ḥimṣ, who did not. As mentioned in previous sections, Marwān b. Muḥammad, known by the nickname "the Donkey," was at this time the governor of Azerbaijan and Armenia. His father had previously governed these regions as well. However, Marwān b. Muḥammad harbored enmity toward Yazīd b. Walīd because he had killed Walīd b. Yazīd. He set out to avenge Walīd. When he arrived at Ḥarrān, he changed his mind and pledged allegiance to Yazīd b. Walīd. Shortly thereafter, he received news of Yazīd b. Walīd's death. He set out with the people of al-Jazīra and arrived at Qinnasrīn, where he besieged its people. The people of Qinnasrīn submitted and obeyed him. Then he turned toward Ḥimṣ, which was under the administration of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Ḥajjāj. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Ḥajjāj had been appointed governor of Qinnasrīn by Caliph Ibrāhīm b. Walīd. Marwān b. Muḥammad besieged them so that they would pledge allegiance to the new caliph, Ibrāhīm b. Walīd. However, they persisted in refusing to pledge allegiance to him.
When ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Ḥajjāj heard that Marwān b. Muḥammad was approaching his province, he departed and migrated from there. Marwān arrived, and the people of Ḥimṣ pledged allegiance to him and set out with him toward Damascus. The armies of al-Jazīra and Qinnasrīn were also with them. Marwān set out toward Damascus with 80,000 soldiers.
Ibrāhīm b. Walīd b. Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik also mobilized a military force of 120,000 men. The two armies confronted each other at ʿAyn al-Jarr near Buka. Marwān invited them to refrain from battle and not to harm Walīd b. Yazīd's heir-apparent sons, Ḥakam and ʿUthmān. Yazīd had imprisoned them in Damascus. However, when the army sent by Ibrāhīm b. Walīd did not accept these requests, the two sides fought fiercely from sunrise until the afternoon. Marwān also dispatched a detachment to encircle Ibrāhīm b. Walīd's army from the rear, and this maneuver succeeded. The detachment attacked from behind, raising the takbīr (cry of 'Allāhu akbar'). Meanwhile, the soldiers on the opposing side attacked Ibrāhīm b. Walīd's army. The army of Ibrāhīm b. Walīd, under the command of Sulaymān, was routed. The people of Ḥimṣ killed many of them. Their garrisons were trampled underfoot. In the battle fought that day, nearly 17,000 or 18,000 soldiers from Damascus were killed. About the same number were taken prisoner. Marwān sent these prisoners to Walīd's heir-apparent sons, Ḥakam and ʿUthmān. All but two were released. Only Yazīd b. ʿAkkār and Walīd b. Musʿad remained detained. They were from the Banū Kalb tribe. Marwān had them flogged in his presence and thrown into prison. Both died in prison, for they had personally participated in the killing of Walīd b. Yazīd.
Sulaymān and the other survivors returned in defeat. They reached Damascus by dawn. When the Commander of the Faithful (Amīr al-Muʾminīn) Ibrāhīm b. Walīd was informed of what had transpired, he immediately convened a meeting with the commanders. Among those present were ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Ḥajjāj, Yazīd b. Khālid b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kusarī, Abū ʿAlāka al-Saksakī, Aṣbaġ b. Zuʾāla al-Kalbī, and others. According to the decision reached at the meeting, Walīd's heir-apparent sons, Ḥakam and ʿUthmān, were to be killed out of fear that they might assume the caliphate. Yazīd b. Khālid b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kusarī was sent to them. They had reached puberty, and indeed, one of them even had a child born to him. They were killed by being struck with a pole. Yūsuf b. ʿUmar, who was imprisoned with them, was also killed. Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī was also with them, but he escaped and hid in a room behind a door inside the prison. They surrounded him, but he still did not come out. When they brought fire to burn the door and were about to set it alight, they heard that Marwān b. Muḥammad and his soldiers, pursuing the defeated soldiers of Damascus, had arrived at Damascus. Upon hearing this, they abandoned their efforts and fled.